Sri Lanka & Thailand slapped on biodiversity day

June 6, 2017

Yala leopard. Source: Amila Tennakoon https://www.flickr.com/photos/lakpura/15654125258

The former Dir­ect­or-Gen­er­­al of Sri Lanka’s Depart­ment of Wild­life Con­ser­va­tion (DWC) ques­tioned wheth­er Yala Nation­al Park can sus­tain tour­ism num­bers skyrock­et­ing more than 1,000% in sev­en years – from 48,368 vis­it­ors in 2008 to 545,007 in 2015. Dr Sum­ith Pil­ap­itiya was tack­ling over-vis­it­a­­tion and its con­sequences on biod­iversity at an event to mark the Inter­na­tion­al Day for […]

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Posted in "GT" news & events, "GT" news from Asia
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Efficacy of “advocacy tourism” debatable

June 5, 2017

Grafitti, Getsemani, Cartagena Colombia. Source: Bryan Pocius; flickr.com/photos/pocius

Fight traf­fick­ing on the beaches — “advocacy tour­ism” is here Bored of the beach? Done with mini breaks? Time to take an “advocacy jour­ney” and spend a bliss­ful few days in the Carib­bean fight­ing human traf­fick­ing. In the latest offer­ing from the tour­ism industry, trips with a mis­sion are now on offer to trav­el­lers who want more from […]

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Posted in "GT" news & events, "GT" news international
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How to make a hotel green & responsible: Get on with it!

June 5, 2017
3 Comments

How to make a hotel green & responsible: Just do it!

Hos­pit­al­ity industry pro­fes­sion­al John Mor­ris Wil­li­ams shares a little of his long exper­i­ence ini­ti­at­ing and driv­ing com­­mon-sense meas­ures at hotels and in host com­munit­ies. Mr Wil­li­ams makes it clear that he favours real action over expens­ive cer­ti­fic­a­tion, believ­ing that dis­cern­ing sup­ply chain part­ners and guests are cap­able of per­ceiv­ing green-wash­ing and cyn­ic­al CSR. Update: June 2021 Prompted […]

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Posted in Insights & Best Practices, "Good Tourism" in Asia, "Good Tourism" in Laos, "GT" Destinations & Places
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Lipman on Trump: “The Emperor has no clothes”

June 3, 2017

Lipman on Trump: "The Emperor has no clothes."

SUNx co-founder Geof­frey Lip­man has respon­ded to US Pres­id­ent Don­ald Trump’s with­draw­al from the Par­is Cli­mate Agree­ment: “The Emper­or has no clothes. “Don­ald Trump’s announce­ment on the Par­is Cli­mate Agree­ment is an attack on human­ity. We spend too much time in the Travel and Tour­ism sec­tor repeat­ing the same man­tras about our sec­tor being a […]

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Can urban parks qualify as “ecotourism”?

June 2, 2017

Residents and public officials of Kigali, Rwanda planting grass and native trees to restore the Nyandungu wetland. Source: 'KT Press'

The cit­izens of Kigali, Rwanda will soon have des­ig­nated pub­lic grounds in which to rest, relax, and recre­ate, reports KT Press. Con­struc­tion of Rwanda’s first “eco­tour­ism park” is under­way on 134 hec­tares. The launch was part of Nation­al Envir­on­ment Week, May 27-June 5, 2017. The Nyandun­gu Eco­tour­ism Park pro­ject will cost RWF 2.4 bil­lion (~ USD […]

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Posted in "GT" news & events, "GT" news from Africa
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Sunshine Coast, Queensland looks to accessible tourism

June 2, 2017

The Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia is looking at becoming universally accessible. Source: My Sunshine Coast

The Sun­shine Coast in Queens­land, Aus­tralia is look­ing at becom­ing a uni­ver­sally access­ible tour­ism des­tin­a­tion. With one in five Queenslanders hav­ing a dis­ab­il­ity and an age­ing pop­u­la­tion using more mobil­ity aids, every­day access to facil­it­ies on the Sun­shine Coast is becom­ing increas­ingly dif­fi­cult, accord­ing to the Sun­shine Coast Coun­cil. The Coun­cil will host an Inclusive […]

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Posted in "GT" news & events, "GT" news from Oceania
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